


To woo your girlfriend

by Candidlily



Series: Izumo and Shiemi [2]
Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:01:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29084298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candidlily/pseuds/Candidlily
Summary: Izumo has a girlfriend now. And it’s time to show her how much she really means to her.
Relationships: Kamiki Izumo/Moriyama Shiemi
Series: Izumo and Shiemi [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2133828
Kudos: 7





	To woo your girlfriend

**Author's Note:**

> A follow up I guess. I wasn’t gonna do this but apparently they inspire me.   
> A pretty much direct continuation.

Izumo has a girlfriend now. 

In fact, she’s had a girlfriend for nearly a month so it really shouldn’t surprise her, but when Shiemi throws up a smile and Izumo realises it’s in her direction the shock causes her to seize up even more harshly than before they were dating. Frankly, the fact that she hasn’t died from cardiac arrest, yet blows her mind. 

But that isn’t the problem that Izumo has. No. Her problem is that “dating” is a pitifully lose term for what they are doing. Not once have they actually gone out on a date. They are girlfriends by name and not much else. The rest of the class haven’t even realised that the girls are technically together and it’s driving Izumo insane, they all flirt and touch and that disgusting feeling that she doesn’t like to acknowledge begins to bubble again in the pit of her stomach. 

Of course, the only way to fix this is to take Shiemi out. 

They do their homework together and it’s the highlight of Izumo’s days. There’s nothing sexual or even romantic about these evenings but there is an intense comfort in having Shiemi willingly spend time with her that curls a sweet warmth around her heart. She’s here and she wants to be here, the thought causes Izumo to smile down at her essay secretly. 

Shiemi, laying on Izumo’s bed across the dorm, giggles, causing her to realise that her expression hadn’t been as well hidden as she thought it was. 

“What?” She asks, looking away from her work to face the girl across from her. 

“You’re cute.” Shiemi replies causing the both of them to go up in flames before she giggles again.

“Stop it, some of us have work to do.” Izumo sulks and Shiemi puts down her book on flowers or something and gives about the most pointed look she can manage. 

“You’re the one doing extra work for no reason.” She tries to reason. 

“It’s not for no reason, it’s to be noticed, it’s important, it’s-”

“Izumo.” Shiemi says softly and all Izumo’s words die in her throat, she’s still unused to hearing her given name from those lips and it catches her off guard every time.

As her gaze flicks up, Izumo sees how Shiemi is staring at her with the softest expression she’s ever seen and her arms outstretched. “Come here.” She calls quietly, barely a suggestion but in Izumo’s mind there is no denial and she stands, abandoning her work in favour of sitting next to her girlfriend and resting her head on her shoulder while they pull their arms around each other.

Laughing sweetly again, Shiemi jostles them so that she falls back and Izumo topples on top of her, wrapping her tight in her arms as the other girl shrieks at the sudden movement. 

Unfortunately, or not, this means that Izumo ends up face down in Shiemi’s chest, but as she looks up, face ablaze, the offended doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it so Izumo wonders if she actually needs to move. As the happiness stays in her eyes Izumo gives up on ideas of trying to exit this situation. 

“You need to relax.” Her angelic girlfriend tells her as her fingers move to entwine themselves in Izumo’s hair, running her nails along her scalp. “All your stress is in your shoulders.”

With these words Izumo completely melts into the body beneath her and turns her head to the side, hoping her blush isn’t all that obvious and that Shiemi doesn’t realise her whole body is on fire. But as she calms into the hold she realises simply how quickly Shiemi’s heart is also racing, despite her calm demeanour. 

The girl beneath her hums a lullaby of sorts and softly strokes her hair while Izumo traces patterns into Shiemi’s skin. Quite honestly, she can admit that this is bliss and she lets herself forget all the responsibilities she puts on herself, even if it’s just for a moment. 

“Shiemi?” She mutters and gets a hum in response. “Go out with me?”

The small laugh that escapes the other girl causes Izumo to be jostled and her hand catches in her movement. “I though we already were.”

“I mean, let’s go out on a date, for cake or something, I don’t know!” She doesn’t mean to come off as defensive, but what if Shiemi says no?

“Yes,” she responds and Izumo lets out a breath she didn’t even know that she’d been holding, “I’d like that.”  
Relief floods through the older girl and she leans up for a moment to steal a kiss, at least she gets those, usually just good night kisses but regular all the same. It’s when she opens her eyes and sees Shiemi’s sparkling ones that she quickly takes another. 

As she lies back down she sets her head on something sharp and rockets back up again, already cursing out whatever object it was that disrupted her peace of mind, but her eyes fall upon the gift that she had gotten Shiemi when she first asked her out, the little glass pendant, sticking out of the top of her shirt. 

“What’s wrong?” The girl asks, concerned at the sudden movement from Izumo before she looks in the direction of her eyes. 

Izumo picks it up gently and realises that it has been threaded onto a long piece of thread which would probably rest just above her sternum if she were standing. “I didn’t know you wore it.” Is the dumb reply she gives, still a bit shocked that the girl even likes it.

“Oh, yes. I wear it every day, it stays close to my heart.”  
There’s a multitude of things that Izumo wants to do.  
One of them is to brush it off with an “oh, that’s fine” and belittle it the way she always does, and the other is to cover Shiemi’s little pink face with kisses. 

Much to the other girl’s delight Izumo goes with the second option, she had promised to be more open about how she is feeling and not belittle everything like she usually does. 

“Moriyama Shiemi, tomorrow I am taking you out for cake.”

When Izumo wakes the next morning she realises that she hasn’t moved from the position she was in last night. Her breath is stagnant, her back is aching and there’s a button shaped mark on her cheek where she fell asleep on Shiemi’s school shirt but she’s overjoyed despite it all. She spent a night with her girlfriend, and they’re going on a date. 

Izumo looks away from Shiemi’s face when the taste of her own rancid breath becomes unbearable and looks up at her clock as it displays 05.56. Gently, she fiddles with the settings to turn off the alarm that is set to go off soon and untangles herself from the girl beneath her. 

Although Izumo would like to admire Shiemi’s features for a little while longer she pulls herself away and grabs a new uniform for the day, making sure to drape a blanket over the girl to replace the warmth that Izumo is taking with her. 

As always, the dorms are deadly quiet at six am, none of the other students here bother waking so early, especially seen as the School is only a short walk away. She’s the only one insane enough to give up on those extra hours of sleep and she’s grateful for it. There is nothing quite like the silence of the early morning, and anyway, she wakes up at this time regardless of whether or not an alarm is set and has long come to terms with it. It’s nice to think to herself for a little while. 

After scrubbing the stench out of her mouth and re-dressing in the bathroom, she abandons her clothes back in her room and grabs the unfinished homework from last night. The essay subject is just as monotonous as she remembers it to be but at least she can properly work, and the warm tea she made herself definitely helps. 

Obviously, however, her thoughts are still not on what they should be and instead linger on her plans for the day, so much so that by the time she’s done a large clump of the building’s inhabitants have come to have their breakfast. So, grabbing herself something to eat, Izumo heads back to her room. 

The only option is to go out at lunch. 

There’s no time after high school and after cram school nothing is open anyway, so lunch it is. She tells Shiemi this and gets a multitude of happy, sparkly emojis in response so that when they meet, Izumo feels confident to take the other girl’s hand. 

She looks gorgeous, as usual. In a yellow maxi dress and a light jacket with her hair up in little pigtails. Izumo wants to bite her collar bone. 

“Where are we going, then?” Shiemi asks, smiling up at her and when Izumo catches sight of that expression she has to tuck her chin in order to avoid embarrassing herself. 

“The café on the waterfront.” She grumbles in surprise, eyes flitting between the floor and the other girl’s face. 

“The pink one? With the swirly calligraphy on the sign?” Shiemi asks as they begin to walk, she swings their arms slightly and bounces as she moves. 

“Yeah.” Izumo is practically breathless looking at the girl who has decided to be with her, she feels like the most blessed person on the planet in this moment. “I’ve been there a few times with Paku, it’s really nice.”

Shiemi’s skips falter for a small moment before she quickly returns to bouncing. “I’ve never been, but it looks nice.”

It is nice. They manage to get a table next to the glass so that they can watch the river as it flows by, after all, no one is going out for desserts at two in the afternoon on a Wednesday. The view is gorgeous so the food is pricey, but Izumo doesn’t mind, she has enough money hoarded to splash a little on her girlfriend. Furthermore, she knows Shiemi will insist on paying for herself, even if Izumo knows that these attempts will not prove fruitful.

They talk, and it’s so very nice. They talk about anything and everything. And Shiemi holds Izumo’s hand above the table and plays with her fingers while she speaks. Izumo is quite sure she may explode at the sheer amount of affection she is feeling for the girl opposite her so when Shiemi leans over to laugh and her necklace slips out of her shirt Izumo is sure that she has set miraculously alight. 

Luckily for herself, their sweets quickly arrive, something strawberry for Shiemi and something chocolate for her. It is undoubtably delicious, but Shiemi must let go of Izumo’s hand to eat and something in her head is whispering that it must be a capital offence when she’s snapped out of her mood by a floating piece of cake in front of her. 

Obviously, the cake isn’t floating and is instead on the end of Shiemi’s fork as she smiles, albeit with a confused expression due to Izumo’s demeanour. “Try some?”  
Really, there’s no way for Izumo to say no, and as she leans foreword she realises that she really might actually be falling in love with the girl. 

Shiemi is opposite her but slightly out of her seat, standing and leaning over so that she can reach Izumo. In one hand is her fork and with the other she gently cradles Izumo’s chin, ensuring that no crumbs fall onto the table or her clothes. Here, in the light, she sparkles, her hair glistens like gold, the sun catches the colour of her eyes and the necklace glistens, throwing all those rainbows around to frame her. She really must be an angel, and when Izumo takes a bite of the strawberry vanilla sponge she realises that Shiemi has made sure that she got a chunk of the fruit so she really cannot be anything else. 

“Do you like it?” She asks as Izumo chews, still with her head in her hand. Izumo responds with a contented hum. “That’s good.”

Swallowing, Izumo notices how Shiemi is looking at her and wonders for a moment if there is something on her face, a humiliation she could never outlive, but before she can say anything Shiemi seems to make some sort of decision and leans in to press her lips to the corner of Izumo’s. 

Surprised by the sudden gesture, the girl is shocked still and Shiemi pulls away before she can progress it any further. 

“Sorry.” The other girl says, wiping the spot she just kissed with her thumb, “you had a little something on your face.”

The sound that then escapes her is undignified at best and causes Shiemi to light up with that laugh and fall back into her seat. She lets out another sheepish “sorry” but Izumo doesn’t think she completely means it.   
It’s then that Izumo realises this girl is actually flirting with her and, again, she is happily aware of the fact that she has a girlfriend. 

They walk back to school together the long way, along the river bank, because they simply have so much time to spare. Unfortunately, it’s when Shiemi is talking about some of the interesting, new flowers she’s currently growing that Izumo catches sight of a certain flame-headed idiot sitting on the bank just a few metres ahead of them. It looks like he’s tagging along with the rest of the group, much to their discontent. 

Even more unfortunately, certain flame-headed idiot seems to notice them approaching and calls out to Shiemi, who he still has very apparent feelings for, and she, ever-polite, steers Izumo in their direction. 

Thankfully, she doesn’t let go of her hand.

“Where are you guys headed?” He asks, not paying any attention to their very obviously interlocked hands. Really, no one has payed it any attention since they returned from their trip, most likely, they believe that the two are some sort of “best friends”, the thought doesn’t sit right with Izumo. 

She’s going to tell him that it’s none of his business but Shiemi speaks before her, saying “Izumo and I were just out on a date, but we’re heading back to school now.”

There’s a sudden moment of silence, a blink, and then-

“Date?”

“Izumo?”

“Wait.”

“No. Come agai-say that again.”

“Izumo and I were out on a date?” Shiemi offers, confused at the outburst and clenches Izumo’s hand a little tighter. 

“Yeah, now that’s what I thought you said, but, you see-” Rin starts, but he’s not allowed to finish his sentence before Izumo buts in. 

“Shut up, you idiot. We’re quite obviously dating, we’ve quite obviously been dating for quite a while. It’s not my fault you’re blinded by your heteronormativity.”

“I don’t know what that word means.”

“Typical self-centred heterosexual.”

“What did you just call me!”

“She’s right.” Strangely enough, it’s Suguro who breaks the argument, taking everyone by surprise. “I mean, I wasn’t going to say anything, but they’re always holding hands, they spend every evening together and some of the glares that Miss Kamiki sends the back of your head are down right demonic.” A pause. “And heterosexual means straight, you moron.”

“Oh.” The five stages of grief seem to flick through Rin’s eyes then as he seems to evaluate the situation. Suguro is right about the evidence, he supposes, and, well, she had just said it right to his face. “Wait, Shiemi, this is who you liked? Miss Kamiki? Of all the people, it had to be her?”

Rin turns his attention to Shiemi, taking her by the shoulders in that way he does when he’s desperate and Izumo’s about to give him a piece of her mind when the girl in question speaks. 

“Yes.” She says. “Yes, I like Izumo a lot, she is a good friend and my partner. I am happy.”

“Oh.” He repeats dumbly. There really is nothing much he can say in response. “Well, I’m glad.” 

He doesn’t seem so sure of himself but Izumo isn’t paying attention to listen. For some reason, hearing her say those words are like a shock to her system. She realises that she wasn’t overly sure that Shiemi even liked her, but here, she just said those words to a group of people she could have easily lied to. She could have said that the were friends and be done with it, pretending that their little thing doesn’t exist and only continuing with it in private. 

Izumo needs to evaluate her internalised homophobia.   
The others are mildly surprised but not disgusted, much to the girl’s pleasure and relief. Perhaps she does like them a small amount and their opinions might be tiny bit important to her. But she is on hand to destroy anyone who makes an even vaguely disgusting comment. 

“Well. It’s not like I care about what you think.” Izumo says, trying to keep up the façade as they titter about, mostly it’s just Rin fake crying and a little bit of the others going “that’s the reason why she never agreed to go out with me, she’s gay”. She doesn’t have the heart to tell them that Shiemi is bisexual, their souls do not need to be crushed at the first instance of hope. 

“Yes, you do.” Shiemi whispers, slight mischief in her tone. 

“They don’t need to know that.” Is the most straightforward answer Izumo can give. 

This useless chatter ends up taking up the remaining time they had left for lunch and subsequently Izumo’s time with her girlfriend. For this, she kicks Rin in the back of his knees on the walk back so that he falls to the floor. Everyone pretends they didn’t see her do it.   
Shiemi swings their arms between them and Izumo lifts her hand to give it a kiss. 

Izumo looks around the apartment, there’s plants everywhere. On shelves, table-tops and window-sills, she knows that they’re growing outside in window boxes. It makes her smile. All this flora really is so Shiemi, trust her to turn their living space into a botanical garden.   
Izumo rests her arms on the kitchen island and stares out of the window over the city, taking in the beauty of the newly-risen sun. Behind her, a kettle wails, jolting her out of her reverie and she gently pours the water into two mugs before pattering quietly to the bedroom. 

Pushing the door open with one of her feet, Izumo shuffles over to the other side of the shared bed, placing down the mug on the small table. 

“Good morning.” She says. 

Shiemi looks up at her, all bright eyes and smiles despite the early hour. “Good morning.”

Izumo loves her. 

She leans down and presses a kiss to her hairline as Shiemi returns to her book. She realises that she’s reading Sense and Sensibility. 

Izumo loves her. 

Leaning up again, Izumo takes a look at the creature curled up on Shiemi’s chest. The overly-large feline blinks up with the same big-eyed expression that it seems to have learnt from the person she is lying on.

“I’ll think you’ll find that’s my spot.” Izumo says to Amaryllis, boping it lightly on the nose but the cat simply mews lowly, seemingly more interested in the fact that she isn’t being fed in this moment. 

“I’m afraid it’s currently being used.” Shiemi says from behind her book, peeking over it to scratch the cat behind its ears. 

“She’ll abandon you the moment she thinks she’s getting food.” Izumo joins the tickles and when Amaryllis turns over to show her belly she rolls of and Izumo laughs before laying sideways across the bed and resting her head on Shiemi’s now free stomach. 

Izumo loves her. 

Automatically, Shiemi’s left hand moves from the pages and places itself in Izumo’s hair, scratching her scalp lightly and running her fingertips along her forehead. 

“Read to me?”

“Of course.”

Izumo loves her.

**Author's Note:**

> They graduate from High School and go to separate universities where Shiemi studies botany and Izumo continues with exorcisms. They have an apartment together in the middle of their two schools where they live with their cat. Eventually they move into the house where Shiemi grew up as she manages the business that has been passed down to her, but not before a few years of travelling together. 
> 
> They get married and have twin boys from a donor and everyone lives happily ever after the end.


End file.
